The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing debris from spikes and/or cleats mounted on shoes, boots and other footwear (hereinafter, “footwear”), and, in general, is employed while standing over or near the device and placing one footwear across the top of the device to have the debris removed, and then bringing the other footwear to be cleaned likewise. Examples of footwear having spikes and/or cleats include golf shoes, baseball shoes, and so on.
Footwear with spikes on the sole are often used on a natural field or ground. Since the spikes are attached to the shoes, soil is likely to stick to the shoes. Also, the shoes with the spikes are generally carried to a specific place, and after use, the shoes are taken off and are brought back with or without a cover. Therefore, it is preferable to clean the shoes after use to easily carry the shoes.
For example, golf shoes are used in a natural field, and soil is likely to attach to them. Also, in a golf course, in order to maintain lawn or grasses on a field and green, a large amount of chemical is put on the field and green. In addition, when a person returns indoors after walking through soil, mud, dust, or other material, the presence of which is not desirable indoors, it is advisable to clean the footwear either just before entry or upon entry to make certain the undesirable material is not tracked further inside. Therefore, it is preferable to clean the golf shoes after use.
Prior devices have been used to remove soil from the golf shoe. One device, for example, ejects high pressure air from a nozzle. In this device, soil is blown away by high pressure air ejected from a nozzle handled by a user, but the removed soil scatters all around the area. In this respect, though the subject to be used is different, U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,218 discloses a nozzle to eject pressurized air to remove an attachment. In these mechanisms, soil attached to the shoes can be removed, but chemicals attached to the shoes are not removed.
A golf shoe cleaner was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,226,750, which includes two large wheels with axial bristles, and a shaft connecting the large wheels and having radial bristles projecting outwardly from the shaft. The axial bristles projecting from the large wheels face two sides of a shoe, and the radial bristles contact a sole, by which soil attached to the shoe is removed. In this mechanism, soil attached to the shoe is removed, but chemicals adhered to the shoe is not removed. To remove such chemicals, U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,201 disclosed the use of moisture together with compressed air, not pressured water, through a nozzle.
As regular shoe cleaners, there are many devices, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,737,942, 4,233,707 and 3,048,867. In these devices, brushes are rotated to contact a shoe to remove soil attached thereto. Soil removed from the shoe may be collected by a vacuum force, and air may be projected to remove an upper part of the shoe. Further, hot air may be ejected from a device to dry the shoe.
In view of the above, the present invention has been made, and an object of the invention is to provide a shoe cleaning device which can effectively remove soil attached to a shoe, especially shoe with spikes, without scattering soil around the shoe.
Another object of the invention is to provide a shoe cleaning device as stated above, which can also remove chemicals attached to the shoe.
A further object of the invention is to provide a shoe cleaning device as stated above, which can be formed and operated easily.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.